Posts Tagged ‘AC45’

With Team Australia flaming out of the America’s Cup with a whimper, the Oatley family needed a new look for the winged AC45 they picked up along the way. And once they painted it up right, they realized they’d finally gotten a Wild Oats that’s significantly faster than the R/P 100 that’s been winning the Hobart for a decade…and for about 5% of what they’ve spent on the big one!

Pic thanks to SA’er ‘wildboats’ from the 45s launch at the upscale Hamilton Island Race Week. Not the latest or greatest tech or the fastest cat out there, but it’s certainly got sex appeal…

While Bora and the boys played at mach 1, Luna Rossa helmsman Francesco Bruni was taken apart by the boys in US blue in the Petit Finals of the WMRT stop in Sweden; Bruni sailed like a man possessed until that point, when Canfield made him look positively pedestrian. Canfield took the final spot, while Swedish native Bjorn Hansen won his third-straight Swedish Match Cup, beating Ian Williams in the final. Watch the final day action from Marstrand here (and watch for Gulari in this weekend’s Mackinac race, navigating for Phil O’Niel’s TP52 Natalie J).

Sam Greenfield grabbed this shot of the American nippers getting their AC45 ready for some training in advance of September’s Red Bull Youth AC. Given the likelihood of further disappointment to anyone looking for close America’s Cup racing in the AC72 and the young, fun, nationalistic, and likely close racing in the 45s, we’re stoked on the series; or rather we would be if AC had any intention of sending the racing feed out to the world. Check the schedule yourself…are they serious?

Here’s some good AC video pieces on the “handoff” of the AC45s to the kids. Check those king posts…and while the title may make you think of Van Halen’s Sammy Hagar days, we like Train better; especially when they’re one of the few things ACEA is doing well.